BUSINESSMAN Shawn Lim, 55, who did his national service between 1972 and 1975, holds the typical 'old soldier's' view of today's military training.

'The conditions then were tougher. We didn't have air-con and life was more spartan. The instructors treated us like dirt. Even if we didn't have anything, we still survived.'

Ruggedness, he added, was surviving even if the food and clothes were not sanitary.

Having seen his own son go through national service, he is even more convinced that soldiers have it easy these days. He said the camp at Pulau Tekong 'looked like a hotel resort - so nice'.

His views add a new dimension to the debate sparked by the deaths of two 19-year-old men in military training in the same week recently.

At first, some parents and doctors asked whether the pre-enlistment medical screening was thorough enough.

Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean is satisfied with the rigour of the tests, which are designed by a panel of experts and reviewed regularly.

He said in an interview to mark Singapore Armed Forces Day today: 'In terms of best practices, structures and systems, I think we are up there with the world's best.'

Established armed forces from elsewhere are coming here to learn things from the SAF, he noted.

Doctors have pointed out that even if extra tests to uncover heart conditions were introduced, sudden cardiac deaths may still happen.

Mr Teo, too, noted that despite best efforts, deaths happen in everyday life, not just in the SAF.

'Every loss of an SAF serviceman is a tragedy...so we will do our best to try and minimise that,' he added.

The debate has since shifted to whether today's youth are soft, given that most are mollycoddled in air-conditioned homes, with maids tending to their every need.

Mr Teo's own view on the issue is that soldiers today are fitter, but maybe less rugged: 'I think they are less able to take knocks. They are more fragile.'

He may not be far off the mark, going by what The Straits Times heard from talking to educators, parents, doctors and fitness experts.

Data from the Education Ministry shows that students have been getting fitter over the years: Using National Physical Fitness Award (Napfa) test results as a yardstick, the ministry has seen the percentage of students passing it go up, from 74 per cent in 1998 to 80 per cent last year.

The pass rate has, in fact, been on the up since before 1998 - in 1992, it was 58 per cent; in 1994, 65 per cent.

But the other side of this shiny coin showing apparently rising fitness levels is one of growing obesity. A decade ago, only 2.8 per cent of students here were deemed severely overweight. Last year, the figure was 3.6 per cent.

The three-month-long basic military training (BMT) was lengthened to five months for obese recruits in January 1991, to give these tubby ones time to build up strength and stamina.

In December 1997, BMT for obese recruits was brought down to four months.

Associate Professor Tan Huay Cheem, who heads the Cardiac Department at the National University Hospital, blamed lifestyle changes for the rising obesity rate.

'Youngsters today have other options for fun - many of which are sedentary, like computer games, Internet forums, watching television, and going to the movies,' he said.

Throw in a calorie-rich diet and you have the formula for obesity and more unfit individuals, he added.

And if fitness-test pass rates are going up, it is because students are being better prepared for the tests, which are becoming viewed like one more subject to be aced, said Mr Michael Kwok, 37, who heads the Physical Education Department at Pioneer Junior College.

But he added that students are 'less exposed to the outdoors and are less resilient to mental and physical stress'.

Mr Raymond Ong, 52, who manages the physical-education programme at ITE College East, gripes about the practice among schools of dropping PE classes once the Napfa tests are over for the year, using the time for lessons instead.

From having been a physical-training instructor in the army in 1974, he has seen military training become 'more scientifically-based, using all sorts of technology and focusing less on endurance'.

He noted, for example, that soldiers during his time ran the standard obstacle course in 'full battle order', that is, with backpack and rifle, but that the boys today do so without the full backpack; intensive armed and unarmed combat training have also been cut back.

Mr Teo said that while the SAF had a responsibility to keep its training realistic and safe, all those enlisting for national service also should get themselves fit to prepare for it.

He expressed the hope that pre-enlistees and their parents would accept that they also had a responsibility to prepare - for not just national service, but for life in general.

Parents have told him they feel more confident of their children heading abroad for studies after national service, which prepared the youths to take care of themselves.

Grateful for the confidence parents have in the SAF, he added: 'I'd like to think NS also plays a part in making Singaporeans, individually and as a nation, much more resilient.'

juditht@sph.com.sg